Work and family balance in modern society

Saroj Parasuraman's book, Integrating Work and Family: Challenges and Choices for a Changing World, examines the modern conflict between work and family from a number of perspectives. The author delves into the specific types of work and family conflicts, and the impact that they have on a number of actors, and argues that these conflicts stem from changes in work and family during this century. Personally, Integrating Work and Family provided a new perspective on the responsibility for work/family conflict, and the potential damage that can arise from clinging to old stereotypes of the nuclear family.

In Integrating Work and Family, Parasuraman attempts to examine the conflict between family and work from a variety of those impacted, including individuals, employers, consultants, and counselors.

The book notes that while there has been a great deal of discussion about family/work conflicts, such conflicts remain a serious problem. Writes Parasuraman, "The problem of balancing work and family arises from work-family conflict, which reflects a mutual incompatibility between the demands of work role and the demands of the family role" (p. 3-4).

Integrating Work and Family is made up of 21 chapters, and covers a wide range of topics. Parasuraman begins the book with a historic overview of the relationships between work and family, and discusses how this relationship has changed over time. The author then provides a number of different perspectives on the relationship between work and family, ranging from that of a person who struggles to maintain balance, to a counselor's perspective on managing tensions inherent in the conflict between work and family, to a view of the research surrounding work-family issues. An in-depth review of cultural and legal perspectives on work and family follows, including a look at work and family in India, and ways organizations can manage cultural diversity related to family issues. A number of initiatives to help solve the work-family issue are given in the context of career development, including telecommuting, the relationship between family, sex and career development, and flextime. In the future, Parasuraman sees a need for society to culturally change its perception of family ad work in order to effect important changes. The author notes that our society, as a community, shares the responsibility for managing family and work relationships.

There are a number of specific work/family conflicts. The most important form of conflict between work and family occurs in the form of time. When either family or work responsibilities make it difficult to participate in the other, then conflict arises. Forms of such conflict include work-role overload and schedule conflicts, notes Parasuraman. Further, interference between the two roles can be a form of conflict. This can occur when psychological strain generated by work or family manifests as irritability or fatigue that impact the other role. Further, another form of conflict arises when behaviors that are appropriate in one role are manifested inappropriately in another role. This can occur when the family roles of emotional sensitivity are expressed in appropriately at work.

Work-family conflict, notes Parasuraman, has a profound impact on employees, their families, employers, as well as larger society. Such conflict can lead to damage to family and marital relationships, job dissatisfaction, jeopardize career progress, reduce employee concentration, and increase absenteeism.

Notes Parasuraman, the end of the 1900s saw dramatic changes in both work and family. These have included changes in the composition of the workforce, and the growth of workers with nontraditional families. As such, both men and women face new responsibilities and demands both at work and at home.

Importantly, writes Parasuraman, "the Families and Work Institute reported that work-life balance was ranked among the most important factors considered by individuals in accepting a new position" (p. 3). As a result of the growing awareness of work/family conflicts, Parasuraman notes that, integration of work and family became an important social issue in the 1990s.

One of the most important things I learned from the book was through Parasuraman's discussion of who "owns" responsibility for work and family conflict. Prior to reading the book, I thought of work and family conflicts as largely the responsibility of the individual. After all, any decision to have a family and career is based on personal choices. Parasuraman notes that this is a common point-of-view, but that it is flawed in that "it fails to recognize that most people (including women) work out of economic necessity, to support themselves and their children and other dependents. Therefore, not seeking employment is not a viable option for men or women" (p. 4). Further, the author notes that society expects working women to shoulder traditional family responsibilities as well as work responsibilities, while men are experiencing similar conflicts, although often to a lesser degree. Essentially, Parasuraman's book gave me a different perspective on the responsibility of societal and cultural roles in creating work/family conflict, and the potential responsibility society shoulders for reducing such conflicts.